The present invention relates to the sale of products (e.g., goods or services) to customers, and more particularly to systems and methods to provide a product to a customer before one or more final transaction term values are established.
When purchasing a product, consumers are generally concerned with obtaining a favorable transaction term, typically a low price. This concern may lead the consumer to postponing a purchase until he or she has had an opportunity to comparison shop for the most favorable transaction term. This search may be further complicated by a number of different transaction terms, such as: an interest or finance rate; a payment schedule (e.g., no down payment required or no monthly payments for six months); and the duration or scope of warranty provisions. These factors may prolong the consumer's search for the best deal. As a result, a business may lose a potential sale to a consumer who is comparison shopping—even when the seller offers competitive transaction terms.
To recover some of these lost sales, some businesses (e.g., sellers) offer some form of “price protection program” whereby a customer is guaranteed to receive the lowest available price for a product within a specified time period, such as thirty days from the date of purchase. The price protection program typically allows the consumer to bring, or mail, to the seller proof of a lower price from a competing product provider. The actual seller may refund the difference between the original price and the competing product provider's price. In some case, an additional amount (e.g., 5%) may also be refunded to the customer. Unfortunately, the initial price associated with the product may delay or deter the purchase, even if the refund is to be made soon thereafter.
Some credit card issuers also provide price protection programs. According to these programs, the original price of the product is initially charged to the customer's credit card account. Within a predetermined period of time, the customer may provide proof to the credit card issuer that the product is available for a lower price. In this case, the difference between the original price and the lower price is credited to the customer's credit card account. This may require the buyer to carry the higher balance over a billing cycle.
Another price protection technique is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,642,279 to Bloomberg et al. Bloomberg et al. describes a price protection technique by which product prices within a specified geographic area are tracked. For example, consider a consumer who purchases a product for a first price. When that product is advertised at a price lower than the first price within a specified area and time period, a refund check for the amount of the difference between the first price and the advertised price is automatically printed and sent to the consumer. While Bloomberg facilitates the refund process for the consumer in comparison to the aforementioned price guarantee program, the consumer must still initially pay a higher price in order to acquire the product.
What is needed is a purchasing system and method whereby a consumer may acquire a product while paying the lowest price to which he or she is entitled, without having to pay a higher initial sale price and receive a refund at a later time. Also needed is a purchasing system and method which would allow the consumer to acquire a product and later obtain, as a part of the transaction, competitive terms such as a sale price, an interest rate and/or a warranty provision.